Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum and Taube/Diller distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. His bi-weekly column appears regularly in newspapers around the globe. His website, DanielPipes.org, is one of the most accessed internet sources of specialized information on the Middle East and Islam.
In order to make sure that these professors, of course all in good faith, insha'Allah, [if God wills] portray Islam correctly, having some Muslim students in the classroom would be beneficial, even though these courses do not fill general requirements.
There you have it, in black in white: Islam at the university must be taught in a pious, Sunday-school manner. Implicit in this demand (note the "insha'Allah") is that such courses serve da`wa purposes, namely that they attract converts to Islam.
To make sure this is the case, an Islamist organization recruits Islamist students to make their presence felt. Presumably, should the instructor say something they disapprove of, the students will complain loudly and their grievances will be dealt with as legitimate, to the point that the careers of professors Cummings and O'Connor could well be affected. They will presumably feel pressure to present Islam and Muslims uncritically.
This process of apologetics is already well underway at university-level Middle East studies. I have documented one key symptom, the unwillingness of Middle East specialists to acknowledge the meaning of jihad. More broadly, my colleague Jonathan Calt Harris has shown how scholars avoid the whole topic of militant Islam.
To which I say, Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to incipient dhimmitude, a state in which (among other features) non-Muslims dare not say anything critical about Islam and Muslims.
Back to the classroom: while students certainly have the right to attend the classes of their choice, in the spirit of staving off dhimmitude, I offer the services of Campus Watch to professors who find themselves subjected to pressure by an Islamist organization.
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Religious study should not be mandatory-in any religion. It should be a course that one takes as an elective, not as part of the curriculum. The course on Islam should be monitored carefully. We do not need another Sami El Arian.
However, if Islam is offered, so should courses on Judiasm and Christianity be offered as electives to all students and comparison studies of religion should also be an elective. No one religion should be taught on college or university campuses without including the study of all religions.
The courses on religion should not be for indoctrination. They should be taught so people can understand, if they desire, the study of other people's religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. Theology courses should only be elective. These courses should not be shoved down the throats of students.